Michiana native riding out Hurricane Florence

As many evacuate for Hurricane Florence, others will ride out the storm.

One of those is a local native who still has family here.

Joe Marosz says it was a gut decision to stay, that he would be better off holding tight and bunkering down than trying to leave his Myrtle Beach home.

Just a mile outside the mandatory evacuation zone, Joe Marosz is riding out the storm.

“We figured we would be better off staying here,” said Marosz.

Marosz moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 11 years ago. He did the same thing during Hurricane Matthew two years ago, but this is the first time he's ever had to board up his home.

“The wind was insane and the devastation afterwards, too,” said Marosz. “That was barely a one when it went by us, so with this storm being a four we didn’t want to take chances so we just went ahead and boarded everything up and took those extra precautions.”

Marosz and his roommate two boarded up the house and were at the stores until they closed.

“We got a ton of bread, peanut butter and jelly, probably 3 massive cases of water, cereal,” said Marosz. “Just a bunch of non-perishables. Walmart actually closed at 11 o’ clock Tuesday night, and the last grocery store we went to closed at 2 o’ clock.”

He says their stockpile could last seven to eight days. They also stockpiled flashlights and candles in case they lose power.

He does not have a generator.

“I ordered one from Amazon last week, and it didn’t show up because they canceled all postal service and Fedex and UPS,” said Marosz.

He does have friends nearby but says looking around town, it's become quiet.

“There’s some people out and about, but you can tell most the people are gone,” said Marosz. “People have left.”

Marosz says he's confident in his decision to stay.

“We went 5 days without power after Matthew,” said Marosz. “We can make it.”

Marosz told us he has several friends nearby who do have generators, so in case he needs help, he will have some people around.

As for his parents here, we did reach out to them.

They say they have been anxiously talking to their son every day, but are confident he will take the right steps to be safe.